McCaffery: Bye record, gone with the wind

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles took a double-figure loss Sunday, at home, after a bye, to a conference opponent, with hurricane winds and quarterback-change rumors whipping, their losing streak being stretched to three.

LeSean McCoy has seen worse. Like when?

“Last year was worse,” he said. “And we still almost got in.”

The Eagles were 4-8 last season, finished 8-8, and must have had some kind of mathematical chance at the postseason late in the year. The NFL is like a cocktail party that way. Everybody just hangs around and bends reality until the lights go on.

The lights are dim for the Eagles, and they grew dimmer Sunday after 30-17 loss Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons scoring on their first six possessions. But they are not off, not yet, not in that league, not with the Eagles’ talent, not when .500 football means a spot on the postseason bubble, regardless of how likely it is to pop.

The Eagles are 3-4, playing poorly, onto their second defensive coordinator and questioning everything. While careful to include himself in the critique, McCoy questioned their heart and their pride Sunday. A game earlier, Nnamdi Asomugha discussed the late-game defensive strategy. Michael Vick even knows that Andy Reid is questioning the quarterback rotation.

But high among all those truths and near-truths, there is this one, too: With nine games remaining, five within the NFC East, the Eagles can confidently answer the only postgame question that mattered Sunday: Yes, the season is salvageable.

“Yeah, this is fixable,” Andy Reid said. “This is fixable and we are going to get it right. It is hard for me to tell you after a performance like that. But we will get it right. We have the talent. We just have to do a better job.”

Much of that rant was tired, familiar, unwelcome. Yet in it was the one truth that makes it so: The Eagles have the talent. They might not have the right coach to maximize that talent. Their coordinators are under-performing. Their quarterback can do better, even if he has ceased making so many turnovers. But the popular public urging is for the pruning of the franchise tree makes sense only if there is sufficient personnel to benefit from the change. And the Eagles have that personnel. So now what?

Reid already has made a career-defining in-season move, replacing Juan Castillo with Todd Bowles as the supervisor of his defense. Next, there could be The Move. Said Vick: “Obviously, he is thinking about making a change at the quarterback position.”

If Reid replaces Vick, that would mean starting a rookie chosen in the third round in a night game in New Orleans. But even if the Eagles were to lose and further blunt their chances at a wild-card spot, Reid would maintain the option to return to Vick and try to steal a division championship. There could be another lineup change or two, a player waived for the sake of making an in-house statement, a new face hired.

“I talked with some of their players,” Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “And they said some things are going to go down here in Philly.”

Something has to fall, something more than an assistant coach. Because the Eagles still have the time, if not necessarily the likelihood, to salvage a crumbling season.

“Obviously, we think it’s correctable,” Jason Babin said. “Nobody is throwing the towel in and nobody is quitting. We’re taking responsibility for what’s happened out here. No one is blaming anyone else. We’re together. We are a team and we are a family. We are going to keep fighting. No one is giving up and no one is quitting.”

Not yet, anyway. In that league, there is no reason, not before the snow falls, as Buddy Ryan used to say, claiming that was when the real playoff-positioning would begin.

“That is the best news we have today,” Jason Avant said. “There are nine games left.”